Urban Institute Unveils ‘Healthy America’ Plan

May 16, 2018

McDermott+Consulting

The Urban Institute unveiled a plan to provide near-universal health insurance coverage, adopting elements of the Medicare program and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Healthy America plan would be open to all legal US residents under age 65, offering a public plan, as well as an array of private insurance-sponsored plans. Healthy America preserves employer-sponsored insurance, and the Medicare program for all individuals 65 and older and those with qualifying disabilities, but merges the current individual market, acute care Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and supplemental benefits into an expanded insurance marketplace offering. Restructured tax incentives to become–and stay–insured across all income brackets, ending short-term limited duration plans, and auto-enrollment for SNAP and TANF recipients strengthen the risk pool to ensure a broad population remains covered through the program. The plan seeks to addresses many of the policy shortcomings of the ACA, and is largely financed through premiums and a restructuring of existing Medicaid financing from federal and state expenditures.